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Does Ash really deserve to win a league?

345ash-greninja

Auto-Memories Doll
They fought each other many times. Paul was always 5 steps ahead. Ash wins exactly only one battle (the one that really matter, though). That's pretty much equal to be demolished, to me.

Ash also tied with Paul twice, so I'll disagree there. Paul demolished Ash in just one battle, Lake Acucity.
 

AuraChannelerChris

Easygoing Luxray.
Speaking of which, I just realized it's kind of weird that Ash beat Brandon who demolished Paul, but Paul demolished Ash most of the time

Only because Ash had the benefit of an endgame league team back then (actually, even better) than Brandon's second visit when he still was developing a team.

This is the kid who has very well battle-ready Pokemon but keeps holding himself back. Unfortunately for him, Paul didn't joke around and did use his best team since the beginning + an Elekid.

There's also the fact Brandon turned out to be a sore point in Paul's overall character. Of course he wasn't going to beat him like his brother.
 
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U.N. Owen

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night ...
In the context of the universe, he really doesn't deserve to win a league, seeing how he lost all of the tournament portions.
 

Vernikova

Champion
He'll deserve to win one when he wins one.
 

Pikachu Fan Number Nine

Don't Mess wit Texas
Maybe given the huge negative reaction to the Kalos League loss (including blowback that saw TPC burn its bridges with CN in the US), the writers will have finally learned their lesson.
 

BCVM22

Well-Known Member
Maybe given the huge negative reaction to the Kalos League loss (including blowback that saw TPC burn its bridges with CN in the US), the writers will have finally learned their lesson.

They don't care what any of us think. I guarantee you it has changed nothing in their minds, nor did the Kalos finale have anything to do with the series moving off Cartoon Network in the US.
 

Bananarama

The light is coming
Well, he's been trying for so long now, so I would think he deserves to win a league at some point. It's been disappointing to see him lose so many times imo.
 

CabochonJaw

Well-Known Member
I say that Ash doesn't deserve to win a league, because it would be overshadowed by his many losses. What's impressive about winning once out of seven tries, if he does win? Also, he only prepares his team for the leagues, he doesn't prepare a team for the league, so he deserves to lose.
 

Spyro39

Well-Known Member
I say that Ash doesn't deserve to win a league, because it would be overshadowed by his many losses. What's impressive about winning once out of seven tries, if he does win? Also, he only prepares his team for the leagues, he doesn't prepare a team for the league, so he deserves to lose.

How about that fact that with each league defeat, he ranks higher than his previous league entries, going from Top 16 to Top 2 throughout the anime? And what do you mean "only prepares his team for the leagues" rather than "a team"? I would like to see Ash use his reserves for a league, but it's also best for the team he has trained throughout the regions to get their spotlight in the league and show how strong they've gotten by battling powerful Pokemon.
 

CabochonJaw

Well-Known Member
How about that fact that with each league defeat, he ranks higher than his previous league entries, going from Top 16 to Top 2 throughout the anime? And what do you mean "only prepares his team for the leagues" rather than "a team"? I would like to see Ash use his reserves for a league, but it's also best for the team he has trained throughout the regions to get their spotlight in the league and show how strong they've gotten by battling powerful Pokemon.

It's mainly hindsight talking when it comes to talking about his teams. Like with the Kalos league, noivern didn't have much of an advantage against any of Alain's pokemon, type-wise. And Oshawott had a similar issue at the Unova league.
 
I think Ash deserved to win Hoenn's League since his third attempt should've been the charm and his Hoenn team was his most consistent team at that point in time.
 

Crystal

The Pokemon Observer
Does Ash deserved to win a league?

Masamitsu Hidaka, the preceding director of Pokemon Anime, clearly replied: "NO!!!"

Don't know about Norihiko Shudo and Tetsuo Yajima, the two directors took control of Pokemon Anime after Masamitsu Hidaka. But, do one really think they are the kind of people that will say "yes", when one was claimed for the responsibility of DEM lose in Sinnoh and giant fiasco in Unova, and one was responsible for public trolling and then last-minute change for the sake of Save The World story plot immediately afterwards during Kalos?
 

SinnohEevee

Well-Known Member
The executives can make him lose 20 Leagues in a row. There will always be a lot of little kids who will get introduced to the show and who don't know he lost that much. By the time they get sick of seeing him lose over and over, they will most likely be outside the target audience, so their opinions won't mean a thing for TPC.
 

Spyro39

Well-Known Member
The executives can make him lose 20 Leagues in a row. There will always be a lot of little kids who will get introduced to the show and who don't know he lost that much. By the time they get sick of seeing him lose over and over, they will most likely be outside the target audience, so their opinions won't mean a thing for TPC.

Once again, older episodes are easily accessible for watching thanks to the internet and Pokemon TV app. So kids can catch up with the anime by watching those episodes or by watching all of the leagues Ash has participated in and get to know his history. Once they realize how many times Ash has lost, they might start to wonder why he hasn't one yet as much as the fans outside the target audience. Kids may be naive, but they're not incapable of learning about a cartoon's history.
 

Raid

New Member
I would say yes and no. Yes because he has been training hard and passionate about his goal since he left his house in Pallet Town and began his journey as a trainer, catching many mons and battling many, many trainers along the way. However, his style of training is pretty subpar imo. Well not "training" in itself, but the fact that he doesn`t continuously train his past mons, he just sends them to Oak`s lab and calls it a day. Also he may train hard, but he doesn`t train hard enough (not evolving his mons for example), also he doesn`t catch that many Pokemon when you think about it. Like if he stuck with his original plan in catching or attempting to catch any and every Pokemon he came across, he would have a waaay higher chance of winning a league. So yes he deserves to win because he works hard and stops at nothing to achieve his goal at becoming a Pokemon master, but also no he doesn`t because he doesnt train his past mons any further and doesn`t catch more Pokemon. In other words, the writers have doomed Ash to always lose :p
 

SinnohEevee

Well-Known Member
How will Ash lose this time?

Tobias 2.0 with Mega Mewtwo X?
 

Shayuin

Banned
Well, he's been trying for so long now, so I would think he deserves to win a league at some point. It's been disappointing to see him lose so many times imo.

That makes it sound almost as if he should win one simply to make the past 20 years worth of effort matter, which I don't see eye to eye with since his journey has been worth it to me even if he's an eternal loser at Leagues.
 

Litleonid

Well-Known Member
My answer is yes and no. It depends series to series. In BW, he was very mediocre. His team was underdeveloped, he didn't utilize great strategies, and he hardly showed that he was training hard. He deserved to fall back to the Top 8. In XY though, he put together a very powerful and well developed team. He trained hard and unlocked a power that very few have ever managed to handle. He was far more deserving in XY than he was in BW. If you ask me, he should have won in Kalos, not the guy who thought he would never lose again. So it depends.
 

CrimsonCourage

Pokémon Master
No. He makes countless stupid mistakes and if the past three league attempts have been any indication, the universe has it out for him. He should have just taken the Frontier Brain position when he had the chance.
 
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